Friday, March 27, 2009

I wish I was a man

Not me, I like being a woman. But, that was what a young woman said at women's Bible study last night. The woman's Bible study that I attend at my church started a new session last night. Since it was a large group of about 40 women who did not all know each other we started with an "icebreaker" activity where we each picked a question to answer about ourselves from a bag. The questions asked things like "Are you a morning or a night person?", "If you were ice cream, what flavor would you be and why?" and "What three words would you use to describe yourself?".

A college-aged woman a few seats to my right chose the question, "If you could be anyone else, who would you be and why?". She answered, "For one day, I wish I was a man. Just so I would not have to plan anything or worry about how I look. I could just sit back and chill." This was met with some laughter and a few raised eyebrows. I leaned toward the 30ish woman to my left, who I had met earlier in the evening and said "I bet a lot of men wish they could just sit back and chill too." She replied, "Yeah, my husband would agree."

The study is a video series/workbook type of study, with small group discussions, based on the book of Esther. The teacher said, as one of the few books of the Bible with a female protagonist, that a study of Esther was a great opportunity for women to examine our "issues". She did a survey that asked women about the most common issues they dealt with, and the top 3 were, yielding to/submitting to authority including their husbands, balancing competing demands, and estrogen. She also said that we would discuss and deal with these issues without devaluing or tearing down men.

There are about 40 of us in the study, ranging in age from late teens to 70's, married and single, with children and without, stay at home moms and working women. It dawned on me that this study is going to be an interesting opportunity to hear what many different women have to say on these subjects. Given the human propensity to assume that others think or feel in similar ways to the ways we think or feel, I am very curious to see if I will be surprised. Will my optimism take a beating? We'll see....

I'm with Mrs. W. I'd give up my cycle in a heartbeat too, if I could also avoid the seemingly unending low level PMS (like inexplicable crying....sniff, sniff, no, I'm not crying, why would I be crying?) that happens when I should be getting one but I don't! (Sorry if that was TMI!)

Wow, you do more than sit on your couch and use the clicker (my family calls it "the power")? Astonishing! ;)

once, when my girls were younger, they told me I had to have a time out. i said, "Really?! You mean ... I have to sit still ... and not talk to ANYone ... until you tell me I can move and talk again?!!!" they said, "yep!" and i was THERE!!!!!!!

and then there are the times i go to someplace like the doctor by myself ... and the wait is longer than it should be ... and they apologize ... and i say, "So, I got to sit here, quietly, and read Ame-kinda things, and not be interupted ... hummm ... not a problem!"

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anyway ... i'm VERY interested in your reports about the women in this bible study. i'd also be interested in the details of the study so i can look it up sometime.